Are memes a blessing or a curse?

[Vivan Vatsa]

<< Mentor Note -- Text speak fixed in this post >>

well I am very enthusiastic science student. I get good grades in school. I am about to enter college this June...but one thing that stays forever in today’s generation...are the lust for social networking & the unconditional love for MEMES. No matter condition you are in...you are busy ...you are happy...you are sad...memes...memes...memes...just make your day...!
Huh??

No of course not the first and foremost thing is memes were designed for strategic competency for companies...but slowly and gradually we all indulged memes into our daily life as breaths!
Ohh really ohh my god...no life without memes...no phone without memes...

Ok tell me is there any smartphone in the world that may not have one...one...just one meme...no...there aren’t ...
So guys you tell me MEMES OR NO MEMES??

 

[phinds]

What I can tell you is that "social media" talk is not acceptable on this forum. For example, do not use "u r" for "you are". We speak English here. Read the forum rules, including this one:

Language:
All posts must be in English. Posts in other languages will be deleted. Pay reasonable attention to written English communication standards. This includes the use of proper grammatical structure, punctuation, capitalization, spacing, and spelling. In particular, "I" is capitalized, there's a space after (but not before) a comma, a period, and other punctuation. Multiple exclamation marks are also discouraged. SMS messaging shorthand ("text-message-speak"), such as using "u" for "you", "please" for "please", or "wanna" for "want to" is not acceptable.

 

[Vivan Vatsa]

I m sorry phinds...it’s just my opinion...no intention to offend someone...sorry for that type of phonetic language too...

 

[phinds]

I m sorry phinds...it’s just my opinion...no intention to offend someone...sorry for that type of phonetic language too...

Certainly no offense in asking about memes and as for the language, I was just letting you know. I'm an old guy and have an aversion to that stuff, so I'm glad there's a rule against it here.

 

[BillTre]

The term and idea of memes originated with Richard Dawkin's book The Selfish Gene.
The continued existence of memes depends on their being well adapted to propagation in their social environment (in analogy to biology adaptation).

I kind of old, so I don't think my phone has many memes on it. I use it for calls and texting mostly.
The laptop is a different story though.

 

[Bandersnatch]

Certainly no offense in asking about memes and as for the language, I was just letting you know. I'm an old guy and have an aversion to that stuff, so I'm glad there's a rule against it here.

(I call this meme 'LOLphinds')

 

[phinds]

View attachment 217978
(I call this meme 'LOLphinds')

Actually, the proper meme is

 

[Mark44]

well I am very enthusiastic science student. I get good grades in school. I am about to enter college this June...but one thing that stays forever in today’s generation...are the lust for social networking & the unconditional love for MEMES.

You would probably be more successful in college by cutting way back on the social networking, and putting more time in on the studies. I think you'll find that college is a lot more difficult than high school.

 

[256bits]

Memes are a part of the greeting card industry being brought out into public display by just any old tom dick or harry.
Not really all that much thought going into probably the majority of them.
Some are good, hilarious, and to the point.
Others I find totally void.

It's kind of like every generation thinks they have discovered something new that is old.

 

[StoneTemplePython]

The term and idea of memes originated with Richard Dawkin's book The Selfish Gene.
The continued existence of memes depends on their being well adapted to propagation in their social environment (in analogy to biology adaptation).

A very good book. I think Dawkins puts it a bit more harshly, in that they are like viruses and their success is commensurate with their ability to highjack the workings of their host to replicate them and infect others.

- - - -

Oddly a lot of people I've met who have 'read' The Selfish Gene don't seem to link Dawkins with coining the term meme.

 

[Borek]

Note that meme lately doesn't mean what Dawkins intended it to mean, but is often used just as a name of a picture with a catchy caption, hence "meme generators".

 

[StoneTemplePython]

Note that meme lately doesn't mean what Dawkins intended it to mean, but is often used just as a name of a picture with a catchy caption, hence "meme generators".

Kind of disappointing -- I guess I didn't realize this.

 

[Borek]

disappointing

+1

 

[Bandersnatch]

Note that meme lately doesn't mean what Dawkins intended it to mean, but is often used just as a name of a picture with a catchy caption, hence "meme generators".

I don't think that's fair, or accurate. A picture with a catchy caption is a meme by the original definition. There's a conveyor of meaning or idea (picture) which then spreads in a culture (is roughly what being catchy means). These might not be terribly deep ideas, but these are memes nonetheless, operating on the same principles as described by Dawkins.
Thanks to being spawned in such Petri dishes as 4chan or reddit, and largely living on the internet, they're also great for analysing how memes spread and evolve. Sites like knowyourmeme.com track and document their usage and evolution.
Look for example at the evolution and spread of 'Pepe the frog', from its humble comic strip origins to the sometimes ironic Alt-right symbol:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pepe-the-frog

If anyone wanted to study applied memetics, I can't think of a better field laboratory than the internet and better subject than image macros.

Of course not every picture is a meme. The horrible frankenpainted monstrosity in post #6 is so far just an image with text. But if people started to use* phinds' avatar with broken English, or the posh English one from post #7 to respond to (or in place of) grumpiness, it would become a meme.

*please don't

 

[Borek]

I don't think that's fair, or accurate. A picture with a catchy caption is a meme by the original definition. There's a conveyor of meaning or idea (picture) which then spreads in a culture (is roughly what being catchy means). These might not be terribly deep ideas, but these are memes nonetheless, operating on the same principles as described by Dawkins.

By definition "A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person". 99.9% of these "memes" don't start to spread and live on its own, they are used just once, so they don't fulfill conditions listed in the definition. So yes, some of them become memes, no doubt about it, but most never do and for me calling them memes in bulk is abuse of the nomenclature. I feel like the name was applied by extension to all pictures with text added by people not fully understanding the concept.

Poor analogy: it is kind like calling every car a muscle car, because they all have wheels and an engine. Yes, some cars qualify, but not every car has the "muscle".

 

[Bandersnatch]

Fair enough. Linguistically, it's an overuse of terminology. Although one could look at image macros which failed to spread as unviable mutations.

 

[BillTre]

By definition "A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads from person to person". 99.9% of these "memes" don't start to spread and live on its own, they are used just once, so they don't fulfill conditions listed in the definition. So yes, some of them become memes, no doubt about it, but most never do and for me calling them memes in bulk is abuse of the nomenclature. I feel like the name was applied by extension to all pictures with text added by people not fully understanding the concept.

Perhaps most of them should be called wanna-be memes.

 

[Mark44]

Thread reopened.

 

[lekh2003]

Memes are society's salvation from the real world. Memes are hilarious and make jokes about the real world and lighten up people's moods. On this note, what do people think about the rising NASDANQ: Meme Stock Exchange?

 

[epenguin]

I was aware of the Dawkins useful and suggestive concept of memes. I am one of the few people in the world with zero presence in social media unless you call forums a social medium. Some things leak out from them like tweets and twitterstorms, but I had never heard of Memes as a specific social media entity before just now. From what I have seen now I don’t think I’ve missed much.

 

[OCR]

I am one...

I am two... .